PHILADELPHIA — The Democratic convention has gotten less black and Hispanic compared to 2012, according to Univision, which said the party also hasn’t given any major Latino leaders prime-time speaking roles.
In 2012 Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, was chairman of the convention, and then-San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro gave the speech just ahead of President Obama. But through the first three nights of this year’s convention prominent Latinos have been shut out, the Spanish-language network said.
Univision calculated that Hispanics make up just 12.9 percent of the delegates to the convention — down from the 13 percent they were in 2012, and well short of the 17 percent of the U.S. population they claim. Among superdelegates, just 11 percent are Hispanic.
Black delegates have also fallen from 27 percent of delegates last time to 22.3 percent this year, Univision reported.
Republicans convention saw 5.3 percent of delegates identified as Hispanic.
Despite the lower participation and lack of prime-time space, Democrats have prominently featured illegal immigrants and immigrant-rights activists pleading for action in Washington to stop deportations.
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And the Democratic convention has made major efforts to reach Spanish-speaking audiences, including distributing prepared remarks of major speakers already translated into Spanish.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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